In September, Oil City News welcomed its first two fall interns from Casper College onto its staff.
Oil City News Welcomed Student Interns
Ashlyn Cooper and Caleb Hill are students at Casper College and will be on staff until mid-November. Hill is majoring in anthropology and English while Cooper is majoring in English and psychology.
Hill is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, but has lived in Casper for the past four years. He said he is driven by combined interests in writing and archaeology.
“I’m fascinated by ancient things and the ancient world. I just think the older something is, the more interesting it gets. There’s all this mystery because of how long ago it was,” he said.
Hill was drawn to the journalism internship to “look for ways that I could maybe make a career out of writing or at least earn a paycheck with it.”
In addition to journalistic writing, he has been working on a novel and enjoys reading sci-fi and fantasy books. He most recently reread “Dune” by Frank Herbert. He also said he enjoys paranormal research, trading card collecting and all forms of storytelling.
So far, Hill has found the internship to be a “smattering of everything” as he finds the space where his interests and expertise best fit in the newsroom.
While he has yet to decide what is next after Casper College, Hill said he is considering furthering his education at the University of Wyoming.
Cooper is a Casper native who found her passions for English and psychology through studying the sciences.
“I came to college with many passions. Oddly, I was focused on STEM, especially astrophysics at first … but I realized my passion for the sciences all came back to the humanities and social sciences. I also know that (the humanities) are not something many students or soon-to-be workers consider important, but I want to help keep their importance alive,” she said.
Cooper first gained experience in journalism in class before an English instructor connected her with Oil City News.
“I’ve always enjoyed researching and learning about people, and I feel like what I’m currently studying sort of captures that part of journalism. I also enjoy participating in the community as much as I can, and this internship lets me share that with others,” she said.
So far, she said she has enjoyed the fast-paced environment reporting offers. She hopes that the experience will give her a better understanding of people and how to write about them.
“I enjoy (reporting on) community events most,” Cooper said. “I shadowed Tommy Culkin with a data center community forum and enjoyed the thrill of getting all the perspectives from the community, as well as being able to see how to take all that passion and bring it back to neutrality in order to inform people about what’s going on.”
In addition to her interests in psychology and writing, Cooper enjoys reading classical novels, traveling to national parks and watercoloring in nature.
In the future, Cooper said she could see herself pursuing journalism further, but added that she wants to teach English, travel abroad and study astrophysics.
“I have been told before that school computer systems don’t know what to do with me because I want to go in as many directions as I can. However, I do know that wherever I go will involve the humanities along with STEM,” she said.
According to Klark Byrd, the managing editor of Oil City News, Cooper and Hill will cover beats as if they were full-time journalists and shadow other reporters as the semester continues.
Developing Future Writers and Journalists
“I hope the interns take away an understanding of how local community journalism works and an appreciation for how much effort our team gives our communities every day,” he said.
At a Glance:
- News Focus
- Oil City News welcomed two Casper College student interns for the fall 2026 semester
- Students gained hands-on reporting, beat coverage, and newsroom shadowing experience
- Key Participants
- Ashlyn Cooper: Casper native, majoring in English and psychology
- Caleb Hill: Salt Lake City native, majoring in anthropology and English
- Klark Byrd: Managing editor of Oil City News
Story reprinted by permission of Oil City News. The story was written by OCN reporter Sydney Denekamp. The photo image was created by Klark Byrd, managing editor of OCN.
